The Pharaonic Period

The pharaonic period spans over 3,000 years,
beginning when kings first ruled Egypt.
The first dynasty started
in 3000 B.C. with the reign of King Narmer.
Throughout the centuries, the power of the pharaohs increased and
decreased numerous times before Egypt came under Roman rule in the
Graeco-Roman Period (332 B.C. - A.D. 395). The pharaonic period ended with
the death of the last Cleopatra during the thirty-second dynasty. When the Roman Empire was divided in
A.D. 395, Egypt was controlled
from Byzantium until the Arab
conquest in A.D. 641.

The history of the pharaohs is divided into dynastic
periods, starting with the Early Period and ending with the Graeco-Roman
Period. Manetho, a scribe
in the fourth century B.C., was the first person to group the reigns of
Egyptian kings according to dynastic periods.